Arise and Shine Forth

Dear Reader,

Tonight we had New Beginnings for my ward's Young Women (yeah, I know, kind of late in the year, but give me a break, I've been trying to get used to this whole being president thing). Our theme for the evening was "Arise and Shine Forth," which is the 2012 theme for the youth in the Church. (Find out more here!)

Because I'm super clever and definitely think ahead, I forgot my camera and did not take any pictures of decorations or food. Just take my word for it, it was pretty good. We had yellow decorations (sunshine...shining forth...you get it) and rainbow food (because rainbows are in the sky, much like the sun, and rainbow food is cooler than yellow food and the Young Women colors just happen to include all the colors in the rainbow).

For a gift for the girls, I made a poster and we gave them sparklers and the new For the Strength of the Youth book (Yes! There's a new one and it's SO COOL! Check it out here if you haven't seen it yet. And check it out here if you have.).

I do have a picture of the poster, so this is what that looks like:

And right about now you're thinking, "Ooooh, THAT'S why she did sparklers! What a clever idea Sister Beer!" Yeah, I know. Thank Pinterest for that one. Pretty sure I stole the idea from someone else's blog. That's what that site is for, right?...

Anyway, it was a success! So now I'm going to bed because the stress of putting on that event quite literally has drained all of the energy out of me. (That is a really good example of why I am the most introverted person on the Highlights editorial team, in case you are wondering. Because it's true, I am. We took the test and tests don't lie. Usually.)

Who says toys are just for kids?

Dear Reader,

So I've heard of comic conventions, book conventions, and boring businessy conventions, but I'd never, until a few weeks ago, heard of a TOY convention. So imagine my excitement when I was asked last Friday to go with the Highlights team to the Toy Fair in New York City the following Monday (two days ago).

"Whaaaat????? Heck yes I want to go!!"

I believe that's more or less a direct quote when my supervisor asked me if I wanted to come. And I may have also jumped up in the air I was so excited.

Now I ask you to try to imagine how magical this Toy Fair was. Imagine floors and floors, rows and rows, booth after booth of toys, board games, puzzles, and action figures. Stuffed animals, balloons, science experiments, books, candy, and dolls. Names like Mattel, Lego, Playmobile, TY, Gund, and Melissa and Doug. Retro toys, classic toys, contemporary toys, classy toys, and modern toys. Swarms of people flocking from booth to booth to admire and analyze each company's selections. Sellers trying to catch the attention of buyers. Exhibitors explaining what makes their toys so amazing. And me, the intern, trying to see it all.

Pure. Magic.

I also fulfilled a lifelong dream of meeting Clifford the Big Red Dog (Well, I just said hi to him. He waved back. Dogs can't talk.) and the Care Bears (They just look so huggable don't they?).

Also, shortly after this picture was taken, the Power Rangers walked by. So...yeah, it was pretty awesome. Good to know the Toy Fair was being kept safe from evil space aliens.

It was impossible to see everything at the convention, but I had to satisfy myself with the fact that I at least got to go and get a taste of what it would be like to work with toys all the time. Aka...pretty cool.

I'm going to go ahead and mark that day as one of my top ten best days working for Highlights. Win!

My newest obsession?

Pinterest.

What 2012 has given me so far

Dear Reader,

Like this dresser, I have changed this year. Transforming from a beat-up chunk of wood into a glorious array of colors and beauty. This last month I have been refined and have risen like a phoenix from the ashes...

Ha, just kidding. But seriously, look what I did!:

Before

After

Oh, and in case any of you were wondering what my beautiful piano looks like, here you go. It's wonderful!

Also, since coming back from Michigan I've had two pretty significant things happen that will determine how my next year and a half are spent.

1. Back in November, Highlights offered to extend my internship another year. When I got back from Christmas break I accepted. My title will change to Editorial Assistant (Yay no more intern title! Seriously by the end of this internship I'll have been an intern for a total of 3 years. That's too long. I'm ready to be an editor now, thanks.) and I'll get business cards and be put on the masthead!

AND

2. I was sustained and set apart yesterday as my ward's Young Women president. For those of you who don't know, this is a really stressful, time-consuming, exhausting, and extremely important calling in the church. My bishop could not stress enough how important this calling is. So...no pressure. I really hope I don't break the young women I'm working with...the problem is, I think someone's already trying to break them. I have my work cut out for me.

Pumpkin [piano] party!

Dear Reader,

Third Sundays after church we have a ward potluck, and last Sunday's theme was "Try something new." I found a recipe for pumpkin garlic knots and they sounded so intriguing I decided to make them.

I'm sharing the recipe with you because the rolls turned out to be really, really good. You can find the recipe here!

Since I had a ton of pumpkin left over after the rolls, I used some of it to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as a thank you to the four men who helped move a piano into my apartment yesterday. (Yes! You read that correctly. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful piano. And those four men [the elders, Bishop, and executive secretary] moved the piano, without a dolly, down a flight of stairs that had a landing and up another flight of stairs. And no one got hurt. I'm impressed.)

This is a different recipe than I've used before, and I have to say, I love it! You can find it here.

I love recipes on blogs. Mostly because there are pictures included. :)

Puzzles are...delicious?

Dear Reader,

Last night I started doing a puzzle.
 
This is really brave of me, because Bailey likes to steal things/eat things/attack things at random. So while I was sorting out the puzzle pieces he was sitting and watching carefully, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

He would slowly move his paw towards the box and I would say, "Hey!" and he would pull it back. One time he got brave enough to quickly grab a puzzle piece in his mouth and then turned to run away with it, but I caught him.

My crafty way of keeping it safe while I'm gone at work is to cover it with the carpet in my room. Only, he knows it's under there, so now his only object in life is to eat away the carpet until he can get to the puzzle. So I sprayed the carpet with nasty tasting "No biting" spray. Hopefully this deters him, but I can't say I have extremely high hopes. When he wants something, he just goes for it, whether or not it will make him throw up later.

So long, 2011!

Dear Reader,

2011 is over! Sometimes it's hard to believe. And then other times I feel like it's already about October 2012, since that's where my brain is at Highlights. (We work 10 months ahead.)

This year has been exciting. Let's relive it!

January:
I began my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE. This was both exciting and terrifying, partly because I'd missed school during my eight-months-of-internships break and partly because I would be graduating soon, and mostly because I had no idea what I was doing with the rest of my life after graduating happened.

February:
February was slow. Like Februarys usually are. But I did make lasagna with Natalie.

March:
I participated in the Divine Comedy music video "Firebolt" which proves that wizards are real. If wizards are college students running around with sparklers and stuffed owls.

April:
I GRADUATED!!! And then left Provo for Michigan. And then had an interview with Highlights for an internship, which I guess went well because they gave me the job!

May:
I moved to Honesdale and began my internship at Highlights! I also took a trip to DC to visit Natalie on my birthday weekend when I turned 23. And I found the apartment I was going to live at in Honesdale which meant I didn't need to live in the Highlights cabins anymore:

June:
I went to NYC with Natalie and Amber! And I adopted Bailey.

July:
I hit up DC for the fourth. Nothing like Independence day in the capitol! Especially when it rains really, really, really hard. I went to Chautauqua Writer's Conference for work where I spent 8 days on staff working really, really hard while mingling with awesome people.

August:
I went to Philly to a Death Cab Concert and then visited Natalie and the temple in DC.

September:
Natalie came to visit me in Honesdale!! And I went to pick her up in Philly.

October:
It was finally fall! My favorite season. And I went to a pumpkin patch, ate cider donuts and drank cider. It was the perfect fall experience!

November: 

I went to Portland to go with Natalie through the temple! This trip was long-awaited and sooo worth it! Yay Powell's!!

December:
I helped plan and throw the ward Christmas party, oversaw the craft room at Highlight's Holiday Open House, and then drove home to spend Christmas and New Years with my family!

So I got a college degree, landed the most awesome internship, and traveled to some of the country's most awesome cities all in one year! I think it was an excellently productive year. Here's to 2012! May it be just as exciting--and even better (if that's even possible!).